Record setting day for Chariho

HARRISVILLE—Few players have left their mark on the Chariho girls lacrosse program like seniors Hannah Baker and Mattie Russell.
Now the record books will show just that.
Friday the seniors scored seven goals apiece in a 25-11 rout of the Burillville-North Smithfield Co-op to break the team record for most goals in one game.
“When we played Westerly [April 8] I got six goals and we had no idea during the whole game that it tied the record,” Russell said. “We were like, ‘oh, we could have gotten the record! But we’ll get them next time.’
“Then Hannah [got the record Monday] and we’re like, ‘I have to do this!’”
Baker was the first to set the benchmark with 10:22 remaining in the second half and at that point Russell had only notched four.
Even still, Baker had confidence her teammate could get to seven as well.
“I didn’t even realize it when it happened,” Baker said. “It felt great to get it but then as soon as it happened I was like ‘Mattie has [four] so we have to do this.’ There were 10 [minutes] left and she totally has the power to do it.”
With 5:48 remaining Russell got her fifth of the game and less than 90 seconds later she struck again to put the record in reach.
Then with 10 seconds left to play Russell tied her teammate for the record with her seventh goal of the contest.
As for the game itself, the Chargers put it away with a strong push to end the first half.
With 8:18 to play the game was tied at eight apiece when Chariho made its push and scored eight unanswered goals to end the half.
The Chargers tacked on four more out of the break to take an 18-6 lead before the Northern co-op finally halted the streak.
Sophomore Abby Cuddy, junior Jenna Brierly, sophomore Savannah Dube, freshman Meghan Kirby and sophomore Sami Orciari ultimately finished with multiple goals in Monday’s game. Junior Paige Pajarillo rounded out the scoring with one goal, while senior Kaitlin Dolloff made nine saves in net.
There is still plenty of time to play in this season but so far it has been the best in the program’s six-year history.
“It feels great,” Baker said. “We’ve gotten stuck for so long not doing well and it feels really good to score goals and [win games].”
“We’re all coming together, everyone wants to be here and we’re all working hard,” Russell added. “It’s a really good feeling.”
Monday Chariho continued to score at will in an 18-9 rout of Smithfield – in which Russell tied her record with another seven-goal performance – and in the process tied their record for wins in a season with three.
Friday the Chargers will have a chance to set a new benchmark for wins in a season when they travel to take on Scituate for a 4 p.m. start.